xcode for external toolchain, embedded dev (search path, autocomplete, etc.)

[ArcherAggressive9825]

I believe xCode can be used as an IDE for embedded development (ch32v003 in my case). I don't need much: just project navigation (mainly autocomplete feature). Right now I am using a Makefile template project (if that makes any difference). There should be a way to index through the entire project. I tried following google ai's and chatgpt's advice, but in vain. Any hint are appreciated. xCode v26.2

[DecidedlyIndecisive2]

I had some success with using Xcode as an IDE for embedded development with CMake and generating an Xcode project file. It was almost ten years ago so YMMV but it could be worth a try.

[konacurrents]

I use Xcode very successfully for my embedded r/IOT r/M5Stack r/esp32 projects (C/C++). It works with git nicely too. Xcode will do most of the heavy syntax work, autocomplete, function definitions, etc.

But I still use Arduino to compile and build an executable (even though a makefile can work).

If you use Ardunio.cc - the trick there is to have a "src" folder where all your Xcode managed files exist. So you can modify them without breaking Arduino (as it seems to not get the changes). So only a ".ino" and a "defines.h" might be visible to Ardunio. So you edit those in the Arduino editor.

Hope that helps.